How the counts work

Words are runs of characters separated by whitespace. Sentences end at periods, exclamation points, or question marks; paragraphs are separated by blank lines. Unique words are counted case-insensitively with surrounding punctuation stripped, so “The” and “the.” count as one word.

Reading time assumes 200 words per minute, the common average for silent reading; speaking time assumes 130, a comfortable presentation pace. Both round up, so a 30-word paragraph still shows a minute. Everything updates as you type and nothing you paste leaves the page.